As we approach the festive season it seems like the perfect opportunity to look to the past and explore the history of supply chain management – where did it all begin?

It really depends on how far back you want to go – you could look at the Roman Empire, it imported a whole variety of materials including: beef, corn, olive oil, spices, wine, perfumes, glassware, iron, lead, leather, marble, silk, timber and tin.

Furthermore, you could look at The East India Company (IEC) founded in 1600 to pursue trading with the East Indies. If you were to delve even further back into history, you can find stories that claim there is evidence from 400,000 years ago that show cavemen created and exchanged tools for hunting and cooking as well as the art of lacing skins and furs together to produce clothing. The creation of these tools and services would have involved some sort of supply chain management in order to produce and trade/ barter one good or service for another.